Sketches of The
Character, Manners, and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland

Appendix

AA, Page 157. Respectability and Independence
of small Farmers in comparison with Day-labourers

It is said that a man is more comfortable as a day-labourer
than as a small farmer. Experience is in opposition to this opinion, in so
far as, where we see many thousand labourers become paupers, such is never
the case with the occupiers of land. These may be poor and involved in
difficulties, but they are never in want of food, or dependent on
charitable aid. Ireland is stated as an instance of the misery of small
farmers. This is no more a fair example, than that of the people placed on
small allotments of moorland in the new mode introduced into the
Highlands.

That part of Lord Breadalbane's estate, which is on
both sides of Lochtay, contains nearly 11,000 acres of arable woodland and
pasture, in sight of the lake, besides the mountain grazing ; the whole
supporting a population of about 3120 souls. Were he to divide the 11,000
acres into eight or ten farms, agreeably to the practice now in progress
in the Highlands, placing the present population on small lots as day-labourers,
would they be so independent as they now are, paying for the lands on the
banks of Lochtay, high as they are, and notwithstanding a backward
climate, as good a rent as is paid by many farmers in Kent or Sussex? Lord
Breadalbane is sensible of this, and preserves the loyal race of men who
occupy his land, without having occasion to establish associations for the
suppression of felony, as in the improved districts in the North,

[When protecting associations are found necessary in
the Nortli Highlands, under the new mode of management, I may notice the
state of morals in this great property, maintaining a population of more
than 8000 persons in Perthshire, besides 5000 in Argyleshire. From the
year 1750 to 1813, there have been only two persons accused of capital
crimes in Lord Breadalbane's estate in Perthshire, and both were
acquitted. The first was a farmer tried on suspicion of murder. (He was a
married man, who lived at the foot of Ben Lawers. In autumn 1765, a
servant girl in his family suddenly disappeared, and no trace of her could
be discovered till the following spring, when the shepherds found her body
floating in a small lake, nearly half way up the mountain. Owing to the
length of time the body lay in the water, no close examination could be
made, and no marks of violence were observed : but after the body was
found, a report was spread that an improper intimacy between the deceased
and her master had been observed. On this suspicion he was apprehended and
tried at the Perth Circuit Court, and acquitted, as there was no evidence
beyond this suspicious report. While he lay in jail, it was broke, and
several prisoners made their escape, and as he refused to accompany them,
saying he was conscious of his innocence, the circumstance acted
powerfully in his favour; he, however, never returned to the country. His
family followed him to the Low country, where he settled and died.) The
second was Ewan Campbell, (or Laider), noticed in Appendix EE. Macalpine,
also mentioned in page 12.3, Vol. I. was tried for an illegal act, which
would have subjected him to the punishment of felony, namely, for wearing
the Highland garb. Some aberrations from the general rule of morality have
lately occurred,—the concomitants, as a certain class of political
economists say, of the progress of civilization. -- Swindling,
fraudulent bankruptcy, and forgery, the consequences of civilization.!!!]

or establishing rates for the poor, as has been done in
the fertile and wealthy counties of Roxburgh, Berwick, &c. Should his
Sovereign visit Scotland, and pass through the Earl of Breadalbane's
territory, his Lordship might assemble, on a few hours' warning, 2000 men,
in the prime of life, ready to receive his Prince at any of the great
passes or entrances into his property, at Taybridge, Glenorchy or Glenogle.
At the head of this loyal and hardy race of men, Lord Breadalbane may
welcome his Sovereign, and, pointing to his followers, may say, such men
as these are good supporters of the country and the throne, and, while
their loyalty, principles, and ancient spirit, are preserved pure and
undaunted, they will always be ready to "Follow me" [See-page 31, Vol. I.]
at the call of their King and Country. [Since the above was written, a
meeting of this kind happened in September 1819, when 1238 men of Lord
Breadalbane's tenants, in the prime of life, and in the garb of their
ancestors, assembled on the lawn in front of Taymouth Castle, when Prince
Leopold honoured his Lordship with a visit. The number could have been
doubled.]

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